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The Art of Painted Cakes

Elevate your decorating with in-demand hand-painting techniques, and create cakes that are truly works of art.

With three illustrative projects, cake designer Kate Sullivan guides you through her favorite design-transfer and hand-painting techniques. Learn to emboss, over-pipe and paint cakes for a striking combination of color and depth. Blur the line between painting and sculpture with multi-dimensional sugarwork. Paint any pattern you desire using the pencil design-transfer technique. Plus, create a vibrant fusion of colors with the wet-in-wet, tie-dye painting method. You'll even learn to tailor your results using different styles and metallic pigments. Trends come and go, but cake art is forever. Hand paint coveted cakes with rich color and imagery using accessible techniques.

Lesson plan

Lesson 1. Cake-Painting Possibilities

Meet your instructor, Kate Sullivan, owner of the New York studio Cake Power. Find your design inspiration, gather your tools and get ready to make three unique cakes.

34:00

Lesson 2. Embossing: The Royal Icing Stamp

Create a stamp from your chosen design with foamcore and royal icing. Pressed into fresh fondant, the stamp creates an embossed surface that adds dimension and texture to your cake—and conveniently transfers your design! Kate also demonstrates how to over-pipe and prepare the cake for painting.

39:41

Lesson 3. Painting the Koi Cake

The gorgeous colors of the Koi cake come to life as Kate shows you how to mix and apply paint to your fondant panels. She adds a modeling chocolate tail for extra dimension.

33:58

Lesson 4. The Cascading Circles Cake

Breezy, bright florals highlight the Cascading Circles cake. Kate demonstrates the pencil transfer method, which enables you to add fine details to your work. She also demonstrates how to paint with metallic lusters.

39:50

Lesson 5. The Tie-Dye Cake

Kate borrows the wet-in-wet method from watercolor painting to create the stunning Tie-Dye cake’s panels of bold organic color. Add an articulated butterfly in sparkling gold to complete the cake.

"I loved this class. Not only does Kate put you at ease and tell you "you can do this," her tips and words of wisdom make it possible to achieve professional results. How impressive my next cake is going to be now that I know how to tie-dye a cake! Who knew it would be so easy to make a stencil with my favorite pattern? Kate knew and she showed me how to do it ... easily! Highly recommend and can't wait to take another one with this awesome teacher!" - DmpaskyNew York, NY

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Lesson plan

7:22

Lesson 1. Cake-Painting Possibilities

Meet your instructor, Kate Sullivan, owner of the New York studio Cake Power. Find your design inspiration, gather your tools and get ready to make three unique cakes.

34:00

Lesson 2. Embossing: The Royal Icing Stamp

Create a stamp from your chosen design with foamcore and royal icing. Pressed into fresh fondant, the stamp creates an embossed surface that adds dimension and texture to your cake—and conveniently transfers your design! Kate also demonstrates how to over-pipe and prepare the cake for painting.

39:41

Lesson 3. Painting the Koi Cake

The gorgeous colors of the Koi cake come to life as Kate shows you how to mix and apply paint to your fondant panels. She adds a modeling chocolate tail for extra dimension.

33:58

Lesson 4. The Cascading Circles Cake

Breezy, bright florals highlight the Cascading Circles cake. Kate demonstrates the pencil transfer method, which enables you to add fine details to your work. She also demonstrates how to paint with metallic lusters.

39:50

Lesson 5. The Tie-Dye Cake

Kate borrows the wet-in-wet method from watercolor painting to create the stunning Tie-Dye cake’s panels of bold organic color. Add an articulated butterfly in sparkling gold to complete the cake.

The instructor

Kate Sullivan, Instructor of The Art of Painted Cakes

Kate Sullivan is an accomplished teacher and the owner of the New York-based cake studio Cake Power. She is the author of Kate's Cake Decorating: Techniques and Tips for Fun and Fancy Cakes Baked with Love. Her cakes have been featured in numerous publications, including O magazine, The Knot and InStyle Weddings, as well as on television programs such as Food Network Challenge,The Martha Stewart Show and Today. Kate has received the "Trendsetter of the Year Award" from Modern Bride Magazine, and had a cake named "One of America's 50 Most Beautiful Cakes" by Brides magazine. She also was featured as one of the Top Ten Cake Artists of North America for 2014 by Dessert Professional.

Ratings & reviews

Class rating

(7 reviews)

So Far

by nairobi_simmons on January 19, 2015

So far the class is great and she is giving very detailed instructions

So far the class is great and she is giving very detailed instructions

Truly Enjoyed The Class!

by flearoy on October 7, 2014

Vey informative and I must try these techniques! Loved the course!! Great job!

Vey informative and I must try these techniques! Loved the course!! Great job!

Great

by Gailzy on June 8, 2014

Amazing and inspirational

Amazing and inspirational

You CAN do this!

by Dmpasky on April 11, 2014

I loved this class. Not only does Kate put you at ease and tell you "you can do this", her tips and words of wisdom make it possible to achieve professional results. How impressive my next cake is going to be now that I know how to tie-dye a cake?!?! Who knew it would be so easy to make a stencil with my favorite pattern? Kate knew and she showed me how to do it...easily! Highly recommend and can't wait to take another one with this awesome teacher!

I loved this class. Not only does Kate put you at ease and tell you "you can do this", her tips and words of wisdom make it possible to achieve professional results. How impressive my next cake is going to be now that I know how to tie-dye a cake?!?! Who knew it would be so easy to make a stencil with my favorite pattern? Kate knew and she showed me how to do it...easily! Highly recommend and can't wait to take another one with this awesome teacher!

I couldn't put the ipad down!

by TheFoodieGoddess on April 9, 2014

Hi Kate, I just finished watching The Art of Painted Cakes... it was just like a great book, I couldn't put the ipad down! I love your passion, your talent and your kindness really comes through in each lesson. I can't wait to chose one of the techniques and try it out! I am a huge fan of your work and feel so honoured to have learnt some amazing techniques from you. Thank you! Emanuela from Tortissime Cake Design (Australia)

Hi Kate, I just finished watching The Art of Painted Cakes... it was just like a great book, I couldn't put the ipad down! I love your passion, your talent and your kindness really comes through in each lesson. I can't wait to chose one of the techniques and try it out! I am a huge fan of your work and feel so honoured to have learnt some amazing techniques from you. Thank you! Emanuela from Tortissime Cake Design (Australia)

Kate shows you how to use a template to transfer your design onto a cake and then paint in the details. You can use the templates provided or make your own based on your original artwork. Whatever you feel comfortable with!